View source for Seventeen (American magazine)

{{short description|American magazine for teenagers}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{For-text|the Japanese magazine|[[Seventeen (Japanese magazine)]]|the former British magazine|[[Just Seventeen]]}}
{{Infobox magazine
| title = Seventeen Magazine
| image_file = Seventeen Magazine August 2014.jpg
| image_size = 
| image_caption = [[Demi Lovato]] on the cover of the August 2014 issue
| publisher = [[Hearst Communications|Hearst Magazines]] (from 2003)
| paid_circulation = 
| unpaid_circulation = 
| total_circulation = 2,020,492<ref>{{cite web |url=http://abcas3.accessabc.com/ecirc/magtitlesearch.asp |title= eCirc for Consumer Magazines |date= June 30, 2017 |publisher= [[Alliance for Audited Media]]|access-date=November 20, 2017}}</ref>
| circulation_year = 2017
| language = [[American English|English]]
| category = [[Teen magazine]]
| frequency = [[Bimonthly]]
| editor = Willa Bennett
| editor_title = 
| firstdate = September 1944
| country = United States
| based = New York City
| website = {{URL|http://www.seventeen.com}}
| issn = 0037-301X
}}
'''''Seventeen''''' is an American [[wikt:bimonthly|bimonthly]] [[teen magazine]] headquartered in New York City. The [[publication]] targets a demographic of 13-to-19-year-old females and is owned by [[Hearst Communications|Hearst Magazines]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.seventeenmediakit.com/r5/showkiosk.asp?listing_id=2986072&category_code=read&category_id=31773 |title=''Seventeen'' Delivers Almost Twice The Audience of Teen Vogue|work=Seventeen Actionista |publisher=[[Hearst (media)|Hearst Magazines]]|access-date=7 January 2011}}</ref> Established in 1944, the magazine originally aimed to inspire teen girls to become model workers and citizens.<ref name="Fashioning Teenagers: A Cultural History of Seventeen Magazine">{{cite book|title=History|isbn = 9781598745047|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lX6rkBphF44C&q=Fashioning+Teenagers%3A+A+Cultural+History+of+Seventeen+Magazine|last1 = Massoni|first1 = Kelley|date = 15 June 2010}}</ref> However, it soon shifted its focus to a more fashion- and romance-oriented approach while still emphasizing the importance of self-confidence in young women. Alongside its primary themes, ''Seventeen'' also reports the latest news about celebrities.

==''Seventeen''{{'s}} history==
''Seventeen'' was founded by publisher [[Walter Annenberg]], owner of [[Triangle Publications]], based upon a suggestion by editor [[Helen Valentine]].<ref name="NYTObituary2">{{cite news |last=Ennis |first=Thomas W. |date=November 15, 1986 |title=Helen Valentine, 93; Founded Seventeen, Editor of Magazines |newspaper=New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/15/obituaries/helen-valentine-93-founded-seventeen-editor-of-magazines.html |access-date=April 20, 2017}}</ref> Working from New York, she provided teenaged girls with working-woman role models and information about their personality development and overall growth. ''Seventeen'' enhanced the role of teenagers as consumers of popular culture. The concept of "teenager" as a distinct demographic originated in that era. In July 1944, [[King Features Syndicate]] began running the comic strip ''[[Teena (comic strip)|Teena]]'', created by cartoonist [[Hilda Terry]], in which a typical teenager's life was examined. ''Teena'' ran internationally in newspapers for 20 years.

After ''Seventeen'' was launched in New York City in September 1944,<ref>{{cite web|title=Magazines in Alphabetical Order|url=http://guides.library.harvard.edu/schlesinger_womens_magazines|work=Radcliffe Institute|access-date=October 19, 2015}}</ref> [[Estelle Ellis|Estelle Ellis Rubenstein]], the magazine's promotion director, introduced advertisers to the life of teenaged girls through ''Teena'', selling advertising in ''Seventeen'' at the same time. From 1945 to 1946, the magazine surveyed teen girls to better understand the magazine's audience. The magazine became an important source of information to manufacturers seeking guidance on how to satisfy consumer demand among teenagers. Today, the magazine entertains and promotes self-confidence in young women.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Massoni|first=Kelley|title='Teena Goes to Market': ''Seventeen Magazine'' and the Early Construction of the Teen Girl (As) Consumer|journal=The Journal of American Culture|date=March 2006|volume=29, Number 1|issue=Theme Issue|url=http://web.wwcc.edu/jenniferboyden/files/2011/01/Teena-goes-to-Market.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120904192358/http://web.wwcc.edu/jenniferboyden/files/2011/01/Teena-goes-to-Market.pdf|archive-date=2012-09-04}}</ref>

[[Sylvia Plath]] submitted nearly 50 pieces to ''Seventeen'' before her first short story, "And Summer Will Not Come Again", was accepted and published in the August 1950 issue.<ref>Ames Lois. A Biographical Note. ''The Bell Jar''. by Sylvia Plath. New York: HarperCollins, 1998</ref>

Joyce Walker became the first black model to be featured on the cover of ''Seventeen'' in July 1971. In 1981, [[Whitney Houston]] was also featured on the cover of the magazine.

New York City-based [[News Corporation (1980–2013)|News Corporation]] bought Triangle in 1988 and sold ''Seventeen'' to [[RentPath|K-III Communications]] (later Primedia) in 1991. In 1999 Linda Platzner was named Publisher and then President of the Seventeen magazine group.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Bounds|first=Wendy|date=May 6, 1999|title=Teen Magazines Spotlight|work=The Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB925952429773091865}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Fass|first=Allison|date=September 10, 2001|title=Executive Changes at Media Firms|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/10/business/media/executive-changes-at-media-firms.html}}</ref> Primedia sold the magazine to New York City-based [[Hearst Corporation|Hearst]] in a process led by Platzner in 2003. ''Seventeen'' remains popular on newsstands today despite greater competition.

In 2010, writer [[Jamie Keiles]] conducted "The Seventeen Magazine Project", an experiment in which she followed the advice of ''Seventeen'' magazine for 30 days. In 2012, in response to reader protests against the magazine's airbrushing its models' photos, ''Seventeen'' ended its practice of using [[Photo manipulation|digital photo manipulation]] to enhance published photographs.<ref>{{cite web|last=Bazilian|first=Emma|title=Teen's Petition Leads to 'Seventeen' Body Image Pledge|url=http://www.adweek.com/news/press/teens-petition-leads-seventeen-body-image-pledge-141493|work=[[Adweek]]|date=July 3, 2012|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

In August 2016, Michelle Tan was fired from her position as editor in chief while she was on maternity leave.<ref>{{cite web|last=Paiella|first=Gabriella|title=Report: Hearst Fired Seventeen EIC Michelle Tan During Her Maternity Leave|url=https://nymag.com/thecut/2016/08/seventeen-eic-michelle-tan-fired-maternity-leave.html|date=August 22, 2016|website=[[The Cut (website)|The Cut]]}}</ref> It was announced shortly thereafter that Michele Promaulayko, who was appointed editor in chief of ''Cosmopolitan'', would also serve as ''Seventeen''{{'s}} editorial director.<ref>{{cite news|last=Steigrad|first=Alexandra|title=Michele Promaulayko Named Editor in Chief of Cosmopolitan|url=http://wwd.com/business-news/media/michele-promaulayko-editor-of-cosmopolitan-10521851/|date=September 6, 2016|work=[[Women's Wear Daily]]|publisher=[[Penske Media Corporation]]}}</ref> Starting with their Dec/Jan 2017 issue, the magazine was to start publishing only six issues a year instead of ten, in order to focus on their online presence to appeal to the [[Generation Z]] market. In October 2018, it was announced that Jessica Pels would take over from Promaulayko as Editor-in-chief of ''Cosmopolitan'', and that Kristin Koch was appointed ''Seventeen's'' new executive director, overseeing all its content.<ref>{{cite news|last=Hays|first=Kali|title=Hearst Cleans House, Forges Ahead With Bold Digital Moves|url=https://wwd.com/business-news/media/jessica-pels-new-editor-in-chief-of-cosmopolitan-magazine-1202875842/|date=October 10, 2018|work=[[Women's Wear Daily]]|publisher=[[Penske Media Corporation]]}}</ref> In November 2018, it was announced that ''Seventeen''{{'}}s print editions would be reduced to special stand-alone issues.<ref>{{cite news|last=Hays|first=Kali|title=Seventeen Magazine Cutting Print Down to 'Special' Issues|url=https://wwd.com/business-news/media/seventeen-magazine-cutting-print-issues-down-to-special-issues-1202906026/|date=November 13, 2018|work=[[Women's Wear Daily]]|publisher=[[Penske Media Corporation]]}}</ref>

==International editions==
* The South African edition of ''Seventeen'' magazine is published by 8 Ink Media based in Cape Town. The editor is Janine Jellars. The magazine ceased publication in 2013.
* The [[Philippines|Philippine]] version is published by [[Summit Media]], but it ceased publication in April 2009.
* The Mexican edition is published by [[Televisa|Editorial Televisa]], but it ceased publication due to the COVID-19 pandemic in June 2020.
* The Indian edition is published by Apricot Publications Pvt. Ltd in [[Mumbai]].
* The Malaysian version of ''Seventeen'' is published by Bluinc.
* ''Seventeen Singapore'' is published by [[Singapore Press Holdings|SPH Magazines]].
* The Thai edition of ''Seventeen'' is published by Media Transasia Limited in [[Bangkok]].
* In the United Kingdom there is no ''Seventeen'' magazine, but there was a similar magazine touted as a fresher and edgier competition to ''[[Teen Vogue]]'' called ''[[Company (magazine)|Company]]'' which folded in 2014.
* The Japanese version of ''[[Seventeen (Japanese magazine)|Seventeen]]'' is published by [[Shueisha]] Publishing Co., Ltd.
* The Indonesian edition of ''Seventeen'' is published by Femina Group, it ceased publication in September 2009.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rentjoko |first1=Antyo |title=Seventeen Indonesia Tamat |url=https://blogombal.com/2009/09/15/seventeen-indonesia-tamat/ |website=Blogombal.com |access-date=12 December 2022 |language=id |date=15 September 2009}}</ref>

==''Seventeen'' in other media==
''Seventeen'' has also published books for teens, addressing such topics as beauty, style, college, and health and fitness.

===''America's Next Top Model''===
''Seventeen'' was a sponsor of ''[[America's Next Top Model]]''. The winners of ''America's Next Top Model'' from seasons seven through 14 have each appeared on a cover of ''Seventeen'' magazine, including [[CariDee English]], [[Jaslene Gonzalez]], [[Sal Stowers]], [[Whitney Thompson]], [[McKey Sullivan]], Teyona Anderson, [[Nicole Fox]], and [[Krista White]]. Originally, the magazine only planned on sponsoring the show from cycles seven through 10; however, with such a high success rate and a great opportunity the magazine provided for these women, it sponsored the cycles until the show decided to move the winners to ''[[Vogue Italia]]''.

===''Cyberbu//y''===
In 2011, ''Seventeen'' worked with [[Freeform (TV channel)#Sale to Disney and rebranding as ABC Family (2001–2006)|ABC Family]] to make a film about a girl who gets bullied online called ''[[Cyberbully (2011 film)|Cyberbu//y]]''. The point was to raise awareness of cyber bullying and to "delete digital drama". The film premiered July 17, 2011, on ABC Family.

===Petition on image manipulation===
In April 2012, 14-year-old Julia Bluhm from [[Waterville, Maine]], created a petition on [[Change.org]] titled "Seventeen Magazine: Give Girls Images of Real Girls!' advocating for the magazine publication to vow to print at least one unaltered and Photoshop-FREE monthly photo spread".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Cowles|first=Charlotte|title=Seventeen Magazine Makes 'Body Peace Treaty'|url=https://nymag.com/thecut/2012/07/seventeen-magazine-makes-body-peace-treaty.html|date=July 5, 2012|access-date=23 Feb 2015|website=[[New York (magazine)#The Cut|The Cut]]}}</ref> As a self-proclaimed "SPARK Summit Activist", Bluhm petitioned for an end to digital photo manipulation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sparksummit.com/tag/julia-bluhm/|title = SPARKmovement}}</ref>

In May 2012 Bluhm, her mother, and a group of fellow "SPARK Summit" members were invited to the New York headquarters of ''Seventeen'' by editor-in-chief [[Ann Shoket]].<ref>{{Citation|last=Bazilian|first=E.|title=Teen's Petition Leads to 'Seventeen' Body Image Pledge|url=http://www.adweek.com/news/press/teens-petition-leads-seventeen-body-image-pledge-141493|access-date=23 Feb 2015}}</ref>

On 3 July 2012, Bluhm announced that her petition had "won" after receiving almost 85,000 signatures online, resulting in ''Seventeen''{{'s}} editorial staff pledging to always feature one photo spread per month without the use of digital photo manipulation. Furthermore, ''Seventeen''{{'s}} editor-in-chief Shoket published an editorial praising The Body Peace Treaty in the August 2012 ''Seventeen'' issue, offering the push against digital photo manipulation as an extension of the magazine's ongoing Body Peace Project.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Julia Bluhm, 14, Leads Successful Petition For Seventeen Magazine To Portray Girls Truthfully|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/05/julia-bluhm-seventeen-mag_n_1650938.html|date=July 5, 2012|access-date=23 Feb 2015|work=[[HuffPost]]}}</ref>

===''Project Runway: Threads'' and ''Project Runway: Junior''===
''Seventeen'' was a sponsor of ''[[Project Runway: Threads]]'', now a sponsor of ''[[Project Runway: Junior]]''. The winners of ''Project Runway: Junior'' from seasons one and two have had their designs feature in a fashion spread of ''Seventeen'', including Maya and Chelsea.

==Editors==
*[[Helen Valentine]] (1944–1953)
* [[Enid A. Haupt]] (1953–1970)
* [[Midge Richardson]] (1975–1993)
* Maci Hunter (1993–1994)
* Caroline Miller (1994–1997)
* Meredith Berlin (1997–1999)
* Patrice G. Adcroft
* Mia Fausto-Cruz
* Simon Dumenco
* [[Sabrina Weill]]
* Annemarie Iverson (2000–2001)
* [[Atoosa Rubenstein]] (2003–2007)
* [[Ann Shoket]] (2007–2014)
* Michelle Tan (2014–2016)
* Michele Promaulayko (2016–October 2018)
* Kristin Koch (October 2018– August 2024)
* Willa Bennett (September 2024–Present)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-08-27 |title=Willa Bennett Named Editor-in-Chief of Cosmopolitan and Seventeen Magazine |url=https://www.businessoffashion.com/news/media/willa-bennett-named-editor-in-chief-of-cosmopolitan-and-seventeen-magazine/ |access-date=2024-09-17 |website=The Business of Fashion |language=en}}</ref>

==Changes in United States cover price==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Year
!Price ([[United States dollar|US$]])
!Inflation adjusted price{{Inflation-fn|US}}
|- align="right"
| 1944 || 0.15<ref>Sept 1944 cover price</ref> || {{Format price|{{Inflation|US|0.15|1944|r=2}}}}
|- align="right"
| 1948 || 0.25 || {{Format price|{{Inflation|US|0.25|1948|r=2}}}}
|- align="right"
| 1949 || 0.30 || {{Format price|{{Inflation|US|0.30|1949|r=2}}}}
|- align="right"
| 1953 || 0.35 || {{Format price|{{Inflation|US|0.35|1953|r=2}}}}
|- align="right"
| 1958 || 0.40 || {{Format price|{{Inflation|US|0.40|1958|r=2}}}}
|- align="right"
| 1961 || 0.50 || {{Format price|{{Inflation|US|0.50|1961|r=2}}}}
|- align="right"
| 1974 || 0.65 || {{Format price|{{Inflation|US|0.65|1974|r=2}}}}
|- align="right"
| 1974 || 0.75 || {{Format price|{{Inflation|US|0.75|1974|r=2}}}}
|- align="right"
| 1977 || 1 || {{Format price|{{Inflation|US|1|1977|r=2}}}}
|- align="right"
| 1981 || 1.25 || {{Format price|{{Inflation|US|1.25|1981|r=2}}}}
|- align="right"
| 1984 || 1.50 || {{Format price|{{Inflation|US|1.50|1984|r=2}}}}
|- align="right"
| 1988 || 1.75 || {{Format price|{{Inflation|US|1.75|1988|r=2}}}}
|- align="right"
| 1990 || 1.95 || {{Format price|{{Inflation|US|1.95|1990|r=2}}}}
|- align="right"
| 1993 || 2.25 || {{Format price|{{Inflation|US|2.25|1993|r=2}}}}
|- align="right"
| 1995 || 2.50 || {{Format price|{{Inflation|US|2.50|1995|r=2}}}}
|- align="right"
| 2005 || 2.99 || {{Format price|{{Inflation|US|2.99|2005|r=2}}}}
|- align="right"
| 2012 || 3.99 || {{Format price|{{Inflation|US|3.99|2012|r=2}}}}
|}

==Logos==
From September 1944, there are four different logos for this magazine. The first and current logo was in use from September 1944 to June 1977, and has been in the use again from January 2004, the second logo was in use from June 1977 to August 1992, the third logo was in use from August 1992 to February 2002, and the fourth logo was in use from February 2002 to January 2004.

==See also==
*[[16 (magazine)|''16'' (magazine)]]
*[[List of teen magazines]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.seventeen.com Official site]
* [https://www.seventeen.co.id Official Indonesian site]
* [http://archives.nypl.org/mss/22968 Edwin Miller Interviews for ''Seventeen'' Magazine] Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.

{{Hearst}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seventeen (Magazine)}}
[[Category:Hearst Communications publications]]
[[Category:Magazines established in 1944]]
[[Category:Magazines published in New York City]]
[[Category:Women's magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:Monthly magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:Teen magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:Women's fashion magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:Multilingual magazines]]